This invention relates generally to application of information bearing labels, packets and the like to containers, and more particularly to applying detachable coupons to self-opening paper grocery bags.
It has long been recognized as desirable to be able to apply information-containing envelopes, packets and the like to containers such as bags. It has also been recognized as desirable to be able to open or remove the attached item. Several different ways of applying detachable coupons to bags have been tried. However, no practical approach has been developed for application of coupons to self-opening paper grocery bags, during manufacture, in such a way that the coupons can be readily detached by customers without damaging the bags.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,226,943 to Poppe discloses a paper bag in which a marginal portion of the bag material at the mouth of the bag is perforated for easy detachment. Such portion is imprinted as desired to provide either a coupon for customers or a customer's receipt. The form of bag used in Poppe is not a self-opening grocery bag, that is, a bag having four side panels and a bottom panel, but a pinch-bottom bag having two sides or panels connected along side and bottom edges. However, U.S. Pat. No. 3,804,323 to Bemel discloses a similarly imprinted, perforated coupon in a self-opening grocery bag. In both types of bags, the coupons can be readily imprinted during manufacture of the bags. Nevertheless, this arrangement has not proven widely acceptable in the marketplace. Customers are apparently unwilling to go to the trouble to tear off the coupons. Tearing off the coupons also damages the bags, limiting their reusability. Undamaged, the larger bags can be reused as garbage bags and the smaller bags as lunch bags.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,614,349 to Barnes discloses two-sided bags with a strip of imprinted paper, usable as a label or coupon, applied to the outside of the front panel of the bag during manufacture. U.S. Pat. No. 2,815,620 to Prodigo discloses a similar approach for applying detachable coupons to heat-sealed packages during manufacture. This approach avoids damaging the bags when the coupons are removed, but appears to be limited to essentially pinch-bottom bags. The shape of standard four-sided self-opening paper grocery bags, and the method and apparatus conventionally employed to make such bags, appear to preclude using the form and position of coupon strip and method of application taught by Barnes. The machinery for making self-opening bags is very complex and would likely tear off the coupon strip, with substantial risk of jamming, and possibly, damaging the machine.
The aforementioned patent to Bemel and U.S. Pat. Nos. D229,896 and D237-780 to Bemel disclose coupon packets affixed to the bottom panels of four-sided grocery bags. However, Bemel does not disclose how to apply such coupons to the bottom of bags and no method for doing so is known to exist. There is no known way of automating the application of the coupon packets to the bottoms of grocery bags. Prior attempts to devise such a method have failed. The coupon packets must therefore be applied to bags manually, an expensive, labor intensive effort. Also, applying the coupon packet to the bottom of the bag makes it very difficult to stack many of the bags when folded flat. The bags form very uneven stacks which are difficult to bind and to stack one atop another. These drawbacks virtually preclude application of the coupons during or immediately following manufacture of the bags since it makes them very difficult to ship. Moreover, the labor and expense required to manually apply the packets makes their application very impractical for either bag manufacturers or for grocers. Consequently, this manner of applying the coupons to grocery bags has not been widely accepted.
Other arrangements for applying or attaching packets or tags to bags require special construction of the bags. U.S. Pat. No. 1,541,167 to Mulvey discloses a sample-carrying packet applied to a bag. A transparent sheet overlies the sample and is attached to the bag by adhesive extending along margins of the transparent sheet. A cord is provided for tearing the transparent sheet to remove the sample. U.S. Pat. No. 2,083,860 to Offenbacher discloses a sandwich bag constructed to provide pouches in the base of the bag for carrying salt and pepper. U.S. Pat. No. 2,917,164 to Kehr, discloses a compartmented bag constructed to enclose a premium item, such as a baseball card, separately from the contents of the bag. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,348,759, Johnson discloses a specially designed paper bag in which the closure of the bag is arranged to receive the shopper's cash register receipt. None of these arrangements is desirable because each requires a special form of bag. It is preferable to be able to apply the coupons to standard four-sided self-opening paper grocery bags.
Various modes of applying tags and packets to boxes and cartons are also known. U.S. Pat. No. 3,183,614 to Loderhose discloses a cereal box having an extra flap which is perforated for easy removal and is imprinted as desired to provide a coupon or premium item. U.S. Pat. No. 4,103,820 to Mathison, et al. discloses a generally similar approach to providing a removable insert in one wall of a carton. U.S. Pat. No. 3,155,234 to Knoll, et al. discloses an arrangement for providing a packing slip packet on a package, the packing slip being contained within a transparent envelope which is perforated, or can be cut, to remove packing information. French Pat. No. 1,101,199 discloses an applique for providing descriptive information on a package. U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,450 to Howell, et al. discloses a method of incorporating labels between layers of transparent films making up a wall of a double-walled envelope or pouch. None of this group of patents suggests any better ways to provide detachable coupons on paper grocery bags.
Accordingly, a need remains for an inexpensive, convenient, and customer-acceptable way to apply coupons to self-opening grocery bags.